Thank Frazetta

Sigh.

Frank Frazetta passed away recently.

I first became familiar with Frazetta’s work when I saw the cover of a fantasy novel my sister’s boyfriend was reading. I must have been nine or ten years old. I can’t remember the name of the book, but the image is fresh in my mind. A muscular hero, under a strange sky. A beautiful woman, almost naked, on her knees beside him. Her arms around his waist. Her eyes turned to him with longing. A serpent of some kind rearing up behind them. Lush, wet jungle all around.

That’s how I remember the image. But I can’t find it anywhere. I think my mind has maybe created a new image over the years, filling in the blanks, working purely on a memory of eroticism and wonder. The image was something like that, though. I can feel it.

I remember the name. Frazetta. “Who painted THIS?” I needed to know. Frazetta. Frank Frazetta. A manly name. A hero’s name. Frazetta. A sexy name. I remember thinking that Frank Frazetta must have spent a lot of time with beautiful women. I remember thinking “Wow”.

I remember trying to read the book. The words couldn’t live up to that cover. The words were dry and sexless. They say “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” They could just as easily say “Don’t let Frazetta fool you.” We’d know what it means. Frazetta could make anything look good.

When I was a teenager, and every day was an awkward climb out of a pit full of hard-ons, it was Frazetta’s women I had fantasies about. There was no internet back then, to give us disposable videos and jpegs of worried, lost, bruised women to misguidedly lust over. What I had was books. Books that fell open to special pages. Book covers that filled my head with incredible, strong women. Savage women who could fight jungle beasts. Women with lumps and bumps and curves and huge hair.

I remember thinking “Wow”.

BOOM! Nae danger!

I think Frazetta’s women were probably the main reason why I got so heavily into Fantasy fiction. Frazetta’s women led me into roleplaying games, and eventually down the path into board games, and here. I would have followed Frazetta’s women anywhere.

Frazetta showed me the truth. He showed me that women are strong, and didn’t need saved. Frazetta is the reason why I’ve been with the same girl for fourteen years now. She’s strong, too. And a bit savage. I worry for the young guys out there today, who form fantasies based on what they find on porn websites. I worry for the women they will meet.

Some say that Frazetta’s work is sexist. The words above are my response.

Thanks, Frank.

Just...sigh.